JOINT PETITION:

Dissolve the CTF, Try the Perpetrators of Crimes and Provide
Reparations to the Victims!!!

Excellencies:

1.The President of the RDTL National
Parliament
2.The President of Commission A of the National
Parliament
3.The President of the Republic RDTL
4.The Prime Minister of RDTL
5.The President of the RDTL Supreme Court

Your Excellencies Members of Parliament,

For the first time, we want to remind the Distinguished Members of
Parliament that on the 31st of March 2008 the Commission of Truth
and Friendship (CTF) will submit its final report to the two
countries' Presidents (Indonesia - Timor Leste); as CTF President
Dionisio Babo stated through TVTL during the past weeks.

When the CTF was established in March 2005 in Jakarta-Indonesia, we
from many groups (civil society, victims and victims' families) have
opposed the existence of the CTF because we consider it to be a
political cosmetic which is intended to eliminate judicial processes
for the perpetrators of crimes from the Indonesian military which
committed crimes against humanity and violations of human rights in
Timor Leste from 1975 - 1999.

In fact it shows that, the International community recognizes that
around 180,000 Timorese people were killed by the Indonesian
military in 24 years according to the [Commission
of Reception, Truth and Reconciliation]CAVR's report.
Therefore we take the position that we have no tolerance for those
who intend to abandon Justice. We also view the CTF as a political
conspiracy of the leaders in order to cause a chain of impunity for
the perpetrators of crimes. According to the rules of international
law this is also in one way a new violation because it is against
the principles of international humanitarian law.

Based on the
RDTL Constitution article 160, the acts which where committed
from 25 April 1974 to 31 December 1999, which are considered as
crimes against humanity, genocide or war crimes, must be tried by
criminal procedure in the national or international courts. We
consider that this is "not" through the Commission of Truth and
Friendship-CTF.

We also consider that the bilateral contract called the
Terms of
Reference (TOR) for the establishment of the CTF was signed by
Ex-President Xanana Gusmao and Ex-Prime Minister Marie Alkatiri
together with the President of Indonesia Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
does not comply with constitutional rules because treaties or some
contracts must receive approval from the National Parliament
according to article 95(3)(f) of the constitution. According to the
constitution, the President of the Republic can only, together with
the Government, perform all contractual processes to reach
international agreements in the areas of defence and security as is
written in advance in the Constitution, article 87, and not reach an
agreement which is against the RDTL constitution article 160 and
article 9.

The CTF's own process has not been ratified by the parliament but
the National Parliament, starting from the First Government to the
Fourth Government approved funding for the CTF and did not request
clarification or approval of the CTF's existence which is not in
accordance with the constitution.

Therefore, we utilize our right which has been consecrated in the
constitution, article 48 in order to make demands of all the
sovereign organs, especially the National Parliament. We present the
following demands:

1.Demand to the National Parliament to
inform the Presidents Timor Leste / Indonesia to not extend
further the CTF's mandate and to stop the CTF.

2.Demand to the National Parliament and the
Government to not receive recommendations from the CTF or
implement recommendations from the CTF about a Post-CTF
Technical Secretariat. Because the CTF's presence does not
reflect the principles of justice for the Timor-Leste people,
because this technical work about relations between Indonesian
and Timor is the work of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and
Cooperation.

3.Demand to the National Parliament and
Government to request that from the CTF a report of finances
which have been spent during this time, in total US
$1,100,000.00 Million through the General Funds of the State for
the work of the CTF, with transparency and accountability,
because this is the people's money.

4.Demand to the National Parliament to give
priority to debating the final report of the CAVR and the 'Chega!'
recommendations in order to lead to a resolution or Law to
enable the implementation of the recommendations in order to
guarantee Justice for the victims according to the Rule of Law
and Democracy. From all the resolutions of the Chega
recommendations, we demand that to the National Parliament to
quickly put out a resolution about reparations for victims
within a short period of time.

This is all, our joint petition, we hope that it can receive good
attention from the Distinguished Members of Parliament. Thank you
for your attention.